In the Lloyd’s of London, five or six businesses are for sale, with only two needing a buyer according to Mark Byrne, the US insurance Tycoon seeking to buy a stake in Lloyd’s insurer Omega.
“I started in April to focus exclusively on Lloyd’s properties, and there were five or six that were actively for sale,” Byrne told Reuters in an interview on Friday.
“There are a couple that you would say are in the category of they’d really like to do a deal, and there are probably two in the category of they need a deal.”
Neither of the two that need a deal are listed, Byrne said.
Byrne, co-founder of Bermudan reinsurer Flagstone Re and son of U.S. insurance magnate Jack Byrne, wants to buy 25 per cent of Omega in a share tender capped at 83 pence per share.
He faces competition from private equity-backed insurer Canopius Group, which has made an indicative cash offer of 83 pence for all of Omega, valuing the business at about 200 million pounds.
Byrne, who plans to take over as executive chairman of Omega if his deal succeeds, said he expected to send out offer documents to Omega shareholders within two weeks.
Analysts say persistently weak insurance prices have weighed on Lloyd’s insurers’ shares, opening up potentially attractive takeover opportunities.
Smaller companies such as Omega are seen as particularly vulnerable ahead of the introduction of tough new capital requirements for European insurers in 2013.
Lloyd’s insurer Chaucer accepted a 292 million-pound offer from U.S. rival Hanover Insurance in April, while Brit Insurance, sponsor of the England cricket team, succumbed last year to a bid from buyout firms Apollo and CVC.
Shares in Omega, which has this year also received takeover interest from rival Lloyd’s player Novae, closed 0.3 per cent higher at 74.6 pence, having risen by a quarter in the past month.
Source : Reuters
